Anyway
by T. N. Weston
Summary: Set in the future. They've finally caught the man who ordered Johanna Beckett's killer when something happens that will change everyone's life, forever. Will the relationship between Castle and Beckett ever be the same?
1. Every Day

_**This is not a true song fic, but there is a song that sets the tone for each chapter. If you've never heard the songs or would like to listen to them as you read you can find them on youtube.**_

_**The title of the story is based on Anyway by Martina McBride. I thought it was fitting for both the story and their relationship. I hope you enjoy my story. 3**_

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_**I don't own any recognizable characters.**_

_**This chapter's "theme" song is Every Day by Rascal Flatts. I thought this song fit their relationship perfectly.**_

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**Chapter 1 - Every Day**

Kate Beckett trained her gun on the fiendish man sprawled on the wet ground, blood gushing from a bullet hole through his thigh, "Why?" the words spilled out of her mouth in a savage whisper.

"She was too close to the truth. I couldn't let her bring down the one thing I had spent my whole life building," He explained with out emotion.

Kate began to shake, "She trusted you," Tears began to wet her cheeks as she cocked her gun. "I should kill you where you lay, you son of a bitch!"

"Kate, you don't want to do this," she heard Castle say as he cupped his hand over the gun and simultaneously engaged the safety. As if on que Ryan and Esposito stepped into her view cuffing the man and reading him his rights.

Once the retired judge was out of her line of sight Kate fell to the ground sobbing. Richard Castle knelt in the mud beside her and drew her into a protective and comforting hug. Kate wished she could hide her pain until she was alone, but the intensity of the situation was too much to handle.

Castle had put together the the twisted, tattered clues to decipher the identity of the man who ordered the death of her mother. Now he was in custody, and with any luck would be going away for a very long time.

It was something Kate had fantasized about for over a decade though until recently she had resigned herself to the fact that that would be a dream which would never come true. Through it all Castle had been by her side. One constant in an undulating sea of road blocks, lies, and debauchery.

He continued to hold her until her sobs faded away. Kate pulled back just enough to look her comforter in the eyes, "Thank you," the words came out in little more than a whisper.

Castle's only answer was a small smile as he squeezed her shoulder affectionately. He stood up then offered his hand to Kate. He helped her to her feet and made sure she stood steady before speaking. "You deserve to celebrate. Go home, change into something a little dressy, and I'll pick you up. I'll let Madison know we're coming at say, 7?" Richard Castle insisted.

"I'm sorry, Castle, I just need some time for all of this," Kate paused, "to sink in. Maybe tomorrow?"

Rick wanted to push, but knew if he did all he would accomplish would be to push Kate away, "Okay, tomorrow, but if you need anything tonight call."

"Thanks, Castle."

"Anytime," he said as he gave her hand a quick squeeze before walking away to hail a cab.

Kate stood watching him go, in silence, just before he got into the cab Castle turned around, smiled at her and waved, "Tomorrow."

Kate waved and watched as Castle's cab pulled away. She stood their silently for a few more moments before heading back to her car. She called Esposito to make sure they would handle getting Judge Henry Allan booked and sent to the Tombs. After confirmation to the fact Kate started her car and drove home in silence. A small smile beginning to work it's way across her face.

The ride home was uneventful aside from having to pull over for an ambulance as it headed to the hospital at the end of her street. She dragged her tired body to her apartment and after locking her door collapsed to her couch. Too tired to even change, Kate was asleep before her head hit the plush arm of her leather sofa.

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_**Hope you liked it. Please Review. I hope to have chapter 2 up tonight since I can't sleep due to a nasty bout of Strep throat.**_


	2. There For You

_**Chapter 2's song is There For You by Flyleaf, and, uh, please don't kill me :nervous laugh:I do not own any recognizable characters**_  
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** There For You**

Kate's slumber was cut short by someone blaring their music right near her ear.

At first she couldn't recognize what the sound was only that she wanted it to stop, but as she came closer to full conciousness she realized it was her cellphone. Alexis' ringtone specifically.

Kate fumbled for her phone on the coffee table where she'd dropped it and her keys when she walked through the door.

"Hey, Alexis," Kate answered sleepily. The line was silent for a moment before Kate heard what she could only equate with a sob. Kate bolted up off the couch a knot forming in her stomach. "Alexis, what's wrong?"

"Kate, M-my Dad," Alexis couldn't talk for a moment as a round of sobs shook her, she regained a bit of control and continued, "His cab... was hit on, uh, on the way home."

"Oh, God!"

"Could, uh, I mean would you mind, I don't want to be there alone," Alexis pleaded honestly.

Once Kate found her voice she replied, "Oh, yeah, of course! Where are you?"

"I'm almost there. The officer's that came to tell me what happened offered me a ride. He was," Alexis took a deep breath, "taken to Sinai."

"I'll be there in two minutes, it's just down the street from my apartment," Kate replied as she grabbed her keys and purse and bolted out the front door.

Kate exited her apartment building at a flat run, but the two block journey to the hospital seemed to take an eternity. A flood of emotions hit her square in the chest as she neared the revolving doors. As she passed through the main enterance all the air seemed to leave the room.

She looked around for Alexis for a few moments before she heard the girls voice from behind herself. Alexis ran into Kate's open arms nearly knocking the older woman down. The two stood there for a long moment as though letting go of one another would make the world unravel.

Finally Kate stepped back but kept her arm around the younger girls shoulder. Kate led her towards the main nurses station. Kate cleared her throat as the two women were acknowledged.

"Can I help you?" a middle aged nurse in purple scrubs asked rather curtly.

"Do you have any information on the status of Richard Castle. We were told he was brought here," Kate explained surprised at how steady her voice was.

"Family or Press?" The nurse questioned as she made notes in a chart.

"I'm sorry?" Kate was slightly taken aback by the woman's brusque nature.

"Are you family?" The grape nurse repeated becoming exasperated.

"Yes," Alexis replied softly.

"Fine, I'll have an orderly come and escort you to a private waiting room, shortly. The doctor's will speak with you there. Take a seat so I can help the people behind you," the unpleasant woman motioned to an empty bench.

The shell shocked women obeyed wordlessly. True to her abrassive word a crimson clad orderly appeared a few feet from them within minutes.

"You two are here for Mr. Castle," The young man spoke with a kind voice.

"Yes," They replied in unison.

"Please follow me."

Kate and Alexis followed the young man through the bustling corridors. Once they reached the small private waiting room Kate quietly asked, "Can you tell us anything about Rick's condition?"

The young man turned as he opened the door to leave, "I'm sorry Mrs. Castle. I've only been told that your husband's been taken to surgery. You'll have to wait to speak with the Doctors for more information."

"But I'm not," Kate began, but the orderly was out the door and down the hall before she could explain, "If you ever tell your Dad about this, I swear..."

Alexis gave a slight smile, "Do you think he'll be alright, Kate?" Fear and worry quickly wiping away any evidence that a smile had ever been there.

Kate thought for a long moment before she answered, " No matter what happens we'll get through it, together."Kate drew the young girl into her arms and rocked her as she would a small child. They remained that way for a long while. Alexis cried freely while Kate tried to be strong, but the weight of the past few days were beginning to weigh down on her.

"Kate," Alexis managed between sobs, "It's okay."And as though those words were the key to the flood gates her tears began to flow freely down water the older woman's cheeks.

After an hour and regaining some composure Kate began to ask if Martha knew what had happened. Alexis explained that the officers had called Martha from the Loft.

As though on queue Alexis phone began to ring. The young woman mustered what strength she could and pressed the talk button.

Kate could only hear Alexis side of the conversation,

"Hi, Gram... No, nothing yet... No, Detective Beckett is here with me...Oh, no you can't help it... Gram, it's okay. He'll understand... Oh, please don't cry... I'll call you as SOON as we find out anything. I promise, Gram... Okay, I love you too, Gram... Yeah, I'll tell him. See you soon... Bye." Alexis breathed a large sigh as she closed her phone.

"What happened?" Kate queried.

"There's a huge blizzard in Seattle. All flights have been grounded and only emergency vehicles are aloud on the roads. It's going to be at least another two days before she can get home," Alexis explained as she played nervously with her phone.

"Oh, I'm sorry Lex," Kate squeezed the girl's hand,

"I promised your dad a while ago that if anything ever happened to him I'd take care of you. I'm not going anywhere until your dad tells me to, so you don't have to worry about being alone."

"Thanks," was all she could say.

"You know, we caught the man who order my mother's murder tonight," Kate paused, a knot forming in the pit of her stomach, "He wanted to go celebrate with me, but I asked for a rain check. I can't help thinking if I'd said yes he might not be here right now." Kate's eyes began to glisten with unshed tears, for her own mom, for, Martha, for Alexis, and for Castle.

"Or you could both be in surgery now," Alexis acknowledged with a wisdom beyond her few years.

Kate's simply nodded. She was trying to be as forgiving of herself as Alexis seemed to be.

At that there was a knock on the door. The two women looked up expectantly as A small red-haired woman in sage green scrubs entered the room.

"You two are here for, Mr. Castle?" The woman inquired.

When Kate and Alexis both nodded in affirment she took a seat across from them and continued.

"I'm Doctor Schnell," she explained leaning in. Kate braced herself, she recognized this as a gesture she used when notifying somone of the death of a loved one, "I'm one of the Doctor's who operated on Mr. Castle. When he was brought in he had an obvious broken femur and dislocated shoulder. We quickly determined that he was bleeding internally and took him immediately to surgery. His spleen had ruptured and a broken rib had puntured his left lung. We were able to repair the damage there as well. However, during surgery it became evident that there was some pressure building in his brain. We installed a shunt to relieve the pressure."The Doctor paused letting what she had said to this point sink in.

"What aren't you telling us, Doctor?" Kate asked using the same voice she used while interrogating perps in the box.

"Well, Ma'am, Mr. Castle appears to be in a coma. He should have come around by now. He is breathing on his own, but as of fifteen minutes ago, he is completely non-responsive. We will assess him again tomorrow, when we know the anesthesia is out of his system, for now, though we have moved Mr. Castle to intensive care. I'll bring you to him in a few moments, but you may want to let your friends know only family are allowed in intensive care," Dr. Schnell explained.

Kate's heart sank. Alexis would have to be alone after all, and at such a vulnerable time. What felt almost worse was that she couldn't be there for the man who had stood by her side through some of the worst nights of her life.

"Now, Mrs. Castle, Miss Castle, if you'll follow me," Dr. Schnell stood and pulled the door open.

"But, I-," Kate began but one look in Alexis eyes stifled her argument.

"Thank you," Alexis mouthed as they began to follow Dr. Schnell.

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**_I hope you liked this chapter. I'm sorry if I went a little ooc with Kate's emotions, but I know when I'm exhausted I cry much more than I ever would on a "normal" day, so I thought this may be in the realm of possibilities for her. They've become much closer over the last few episodes, so I figured by the time they find the last piece of the puzzle as it were that Kate and Castle could consider each other good friends. Okay. I'll stop rambling now. Anyway, please review. _**


	3. Your Star

_**A/N:Okay, I know this is REALLY short right now, but I REALLY wanted to get SOMETHING up before I went to bed tonight.**_

_**I'm sorry there has been such a long Hiatus between updates. February and March were MONSTER months for me. I nearly ended up in the hospital. As soon as I regained my strength from my illness my mom went into the hospital for major surgery and I've been taking care of her most days since so I've had either no energy or no time to write which has been killing me. I'll add more to this chapter as soon as I possibly can. Hopefully that will be tomorrow, but if not maybe this will at least wet you appetite. I know it is mine. Hehe.**_

_**BTW, did anyone else get the feeling, while watching the eppy tonight, that there was something more between Beckett and Castle this week? Hmmm, maybe Dr. Motorcycle Boy will be asked to permanently relocate to Japan to help with all the wounded. It would be a great non-deathy, way to get rid of him. Then there could be some scene where he askes her to go. Maybe she gives it some thought, maybe she doesn't, but I really want Josh to be gone for good, but he's such a good guy I don't want him dead, and that would so be him I think. Okay. I think my A/N is officially longer than the chapter, ATM. But I'll fix that soon.**_

_**A/N Cont'd: Okay got up more. I think what I'm writing now will go in chapter 4. It fits more with the next song I have in mind. Oh, BTW, the song for this chapter is Your Star by Evanesence.**_

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For two days Kate Beckett sat at the edge of Castles hospital bed. Some times with Alexis, sometimes with the boys and Lanie, sometimes alone. She held out hope that he would awake sometime during those two days. In her musings he would open his mezmerizingly blue eyes, turn to her with one of his playful grins plastered on his face, make some quip or innuendo that would have her hitting him upside the head.

That didn't happen, and although Martha had finally arrived late on the second day after Castle's accident Kate felt as though she were somehow abandoning him.

On day three Kate had to return to her normal routine, though she couldn't really call it normal. Not without Castle there, bring her morning coffee, spouting outrageous theories, and staring after her when he thought she wasn't looking.

Kate tried to pretend, as she entered the 12th precinct, that today was any other normal day. She even managed a smile when an officer whose name she couldn't quite remember, Romero or was it Ramirez, greeted her.

Kate told herself she was fine as she put her purse in her desk drawer and locked it. She insisted to herself she was fine as she pulled a file out of her inbox, and opened it. She was determined to be fine as she read through the incident report, and looked at the crime scene photos, but the facade began to crack as she looked up in the direction of "his" chair.

A raw feeling began to burn in her chest. She felt the blood rising into her cheeks as she flushed, then paled. Silently a steaming mug of coffee appeared in front of her. She couldn't control the gasp that escaped her lips.

A small hand clamped on her shoulder, "I figured you'd probably need a strong cup of coffee today," Lanie stated in a half whisper.

"God Dammit, Lanie! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Kate yelled drawing the attention of half the detectives in the precinct. The stunned look on Lanie's face was another hammer strike to the porcelain mask Kate wore this morning.

Kate threw the file she was still holding onto her desk before trying desperately to open the drawer she had just locked her purse in.

"Dammit," Kate's hands shook as she tried, unsucessfully to open the drawer.

"Oh, honey," Lanie's voice broke as she set her own coffee down, "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry."

A heavy sigh hissed through Beckett's teeth as she tried to squeeze some of the tension from the back of her neck. The M.E. lead Beckett into a relatively secluded corner of the bullpen. "Talk to me, Kate, get it off your chest."

Kate Shrugged, "There's nothing to talk about, Lanie. Rick's still in a coma, no change whatsoever, and life goes on. I just need to get back to my normal routine."

"Sweetie, your normal routine, is bickering and flirting with writer-boy until you two see-saw out what really happened. There is no normal right now," Lanie stated in a near whisper.

Kate pinched closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose,"Then I need to make a new normal."

Lanie simply stood staring at her friend. She wished her friend could just cry out her frustrations, but that wasn't Kate Beckett. Kate pushed everything down until she was alone. "Come on." Lanie said holding her hand out for Kate to go first.

"Where?"

"You need to work off some tension," Lanie stated as she lead Kate to the Gym two floors above.

An hour later a very sweaty Kate and Lanie lay on the sparring mat giggling. "Oh, my God," Lanie barely got out, "He can be SUCH a nerd sometimes."

"Yeah," Kate chuckled as she remembered the time she and Castle had watched The Princess Bride together and he had recited the whole movie a line before any of the characters.

"Did I ever tell you he once suggested that we should put on a production of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog with Ryan as Dr. Horrible, himself as Captain Hammer, and me as Penny." Kate smiled.

Lanie gasped dramatically as she whisked a hand to her chest, "What he doesn't want to play the lead?"

"No, he says Captain Hammer is _much _more Awesome." Kate smiled wistfully.

Lanie chuckled, "I think maybe it's the fact that he would get to kiss you."

Kate cleared her throat as she stood up."Well, I think it's time to get to work. And Lanie,"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

The rest of the day went by fairly smoothly. There were no new murder cases so Kate and the boys caught up on paper work for past and cold cases.

At approximately three o'clock that after noon Kate was in the breakroom slowly nursing a fresh cup of coffee when her phone rang. Looking at the caller ID her heart stopped.

"Hello," Kate barely managed to utter, she listened for a few minutes as her breathing quickened tears welling up in her eyes, her voice caught as she spoke, "Okay. I understand... I'll be there as soon as possible."

Kate nearly threw her half-filled mug into the sink and ran to her desk, swiftly retrieving her purse before turning and nearly knocking down Ryan.

The junior detective threw his hands in the air as she shifted around him, "Whoa, Boss, where's the fire."

"No fire," Beckett replied breathlessly, "Castles awake!"

Ryan had no time to respond as Kate burst threw the door leading to the stair at a flat run.

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**_Please Review. :)_**


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